A/N: I'm new to the Fairy Tail fandom, and it probably shows. I couldn't let this idea pass by though, so hopefully you'll get a kick out of it. Thanks for reading! Rated M for alcohol references and swearing. A lot of it.
Disclaimer: Yeah, Hiro Mashima's got all of Fairy Tail, and he's doing a splendid job of ship-teasing everyone to death. Me? I'm just writing for fun.
Edit 8/13: Fixed a few spelling/grammar errors. Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed and fav'ed!
The guild was quiet today, Levy noted, as she stepped into the familiar halls of Fairy Tail. On most days the place would be teeming with lively, unbridled, over-the-top activity. The kind of activity that usually resulted in a few broken chairs, holes in the walls, scorch marks and water damage here and there, and a well-established close relationship with the local lumber mill. But at this moment, only a handful of members sat around the scattered tables in relative peace.
Good. This meant she could get an hour or two of deciphering in until things really picked up and she'd be forced to find a seat that wasn't charred.
"Hello, Mira!" she greeted as her current little project—a seven hundred page tome of ancient script magic plus a notebook and pen—thumped against the bar counter. With a small relieved sigh, she hopped onto the bar stool and adjusted her yellow dress, settling in for the long session.
"Good afternoon, Levy," the white-haired bartender replied with a smile, "Where are Jet and Droy?"
Sweeping a lock of blue hair behind her ear, she flashed Mira a guilty grin before recounting today's events.
"They were with me a few moments ago, but I sent them out on an errand."
Mirajane tilted her head the slightest but said nothing. Levy felt a twinge of guilt as she motioned to the book in front of them.
"I was trying to concentrate on translating this, but those two kept bickering about…about something; I didn't really listen, and I didn't have the patience today since they were arguing while hovering above me. I love them and all, but they just kept going…" she stopped herself from rambling too much further and took a small breath, "So I sent them out to find peaches."
"Ah," Mira replied in understanding while grabbing a dishcloth, "but aren't peaches in season right now? It'll only take a few minutes for them to walk to the market and back."
"I sent them to look for a breed called Junos peaches. They only grow on a remote island near the eastern continent and export to three regions in the world."
Levy glanced down, not wanting to meet Mira's gaze. Maybe she went overboard. She could have gone back to her own room, even if it was a little cramped and untidy. And the boys were only doing their typical antics, nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps she should find them and apologize—
"Oh well," Mira stated as Levy caught her wink, "there's nothing we can do about it until they come back. Care for something to drink? I have something new that I thought the girls might like more."
Just one wouldn't hurt. It would soothe her agitation and she'd be able to finally concentrate.
"Yes please. Thank you." Levy said in appreciation, finally ready to get to work.
No sooner had she picked up on where she left off had Mirajane set a pint of what looked to be ale in front of her. Without so much of a glance, she lifted the cup to her lips and took a sip. The sweet taste of apples invaded her senses as the carbonation tickled the back of her throat, and she widened her eyes in surprise.
This was delicious, and she could barely taste the alcohol at all!
"Like it?"
She made a noise of approval as she took another swig, finding the second experience the same as the first. With her pen in her right hand and the ale in her left, she went back to translating with renewed vigor.
An hour and two pints later, where the sun began its daily ritual of sinking into the horizon, Levy found she on a roll. She was on her third page, and despite the guild slowly filling up with its usual patrons and the noise that came with it, her concentration only broke when Mira hastily placed dinner in front of her before scurrying off to serve the others. She had just finished scribbling down a quick footnote when a large "thunk" of a familiar keg alerted her of Cana's presence in the next seat.
"Hey, Lisanna! Get out the good stuff!" the brunette called as the bartender-in-training stopped in her tracks, precariously balancing stacks of dirtied plates in her hands as she looked over towards them.
"S-sure! Would you like me to top you off, Levy?"
"Yes please." Pleasantly numb from her last one, she decided that this would be her last drink for the night before retiring to her dorm.
Giving a quick nod of recognition, Lisanna jetted back into the kitchen and back, plate free.
"What's the occasion?" Levy asked out of mild curiosity more than anything. Cana gave her a toothy grin while Lisanna took their cups.
"No time like the present to appreciate the finer things," and it was very like Cana to appreciate large quantities of alcohol, especially the more potent kind, "and I scored a pretty good bounty if I say so myself. What are you up to?"
"Researching again. It's a book of old solid script incantations."
Cana waved her hand dismissively, as if the very notion caused her pain.
"I don't know how you can stand doing that for so long, but to each his own."
Levy frowned, pressing her fingers closer against the pages as she swallowed the initial indignation to keep the peace. But she couldn't say nothing about it.
The image of a particular Iron Dragon Slayer came to mind, keeping her safe from Grimoire Heart.
"It's important to me—"
"Here you go!" Lisanna hurriedly sat the pints in front of their owners and sped off to the other tables.
Cana must have read the expression on her face, as she lifted her hands up in a sign of peace.
"It's all right. Let's just enjoy our drinks."
The brunette lifted her mug in the air and waited for Levy to do the same.
"Cheers!"
Levy reciprocated the gesture and took a quick swig, mildly noting that the taste was a little different…
And two hours later…
"Gajeel! Thank goodness! Just in time!"
Never in his life did he think he'd hear 'thank goodness' and his name in the same sentence. Even sarcastically was a stretch. But no, Mirajane meant it as she gestured toward the hall with a distraught look on her face.
Nothing seemed out of place; the end of supper meant the guild was in full swing, and the rowdiness of the crowd even looked tame compared to the usual nights; that fire-eating brat wasn't here to pester anyone today. In fact, it was a downright shame. He would have liked to bent iron in the shape of Salamander's face, and then use it as a cast for the body of a new guitar. It would be doing him a favor, really.
"You know where Fairy Hills is, right? The girls dorm?" Another odd statement from Mira prompted him to look at her funny.
"Is that…Levy?" Panther Lily, his partner in crime asked. Gajeel followed the Exceed's pointed paw toward the bar.
Indeed it was, tankard in hand, laughing loudly at something Cana might have said. Her hands clumsily knocked the already teetering books off of the table and onto the floor.
He didn't peg her to be the drinking type, and from the looks of it, neither did she.
"Whoops!" he heard her exclaim and slammed the tankard down onto the bar. With the coordination of a newborn fawn, she practically fell off the stool to retrieve the items and miraculously climbed back to her previous position.
"You spilled your drink." Cana pointed out once the Shrimp looked at her.
"Aww. T's okay though. I'll dry it off!"
And before Gajeel knew it, he was barging through the crowd in an attempt to stop the familiar motions of her hands in a distinct spell —
"Solid Script: Fire!"
The bar instantly roared with flames that shot to the ceiling and blazed a trail down the whole damned line of patrons. The wine glasses and beer mugs that hung overhead shattered from the heat, and Levy just kept sitting there, making that beautiful laughing sound and holding those books in her arms, as if the whole incident was an inside joke.
"Oi, are you trying to make yourself fried Shrimp or somethin'?" he roared over the flames as he reached her side, and she looked up at him, still smiling, light reflecting from those fucking gorgeous eyes, and—
"Gajeel~," Levy crooned as a greeting, letting out another giggle, and he decided it was too damn hot in here to think straight.
Without a second thought, he slung her tiny form over his shoulder despite her half-hearted protests and with a nod to a relieved-but-irked Mirajane, proceeded to march their asses right out of the guild.
It was barely past dusk, and the town's lights flickered as he started in the direction of Fairy Hill. Lily fell into step beside him, and the two shared amused smirks at the expense of the drunken girl.
"I've never seen her act this way before," Lily mentioned, "of course she's always cheerful, but to resort to this…" His paws motioned over to Levy's poor state.
Gajeel scoffed, "This is new to me too."
"Lemme down! I can walk!" she weakly pounded on his back, and in doing so, dropped those stupid books of hers again. Panther Lily scooped them up in her place.
"You're drunk," his partner informed her.
"Lily! O-of course I'm not—phftt!" she broke into laughter, and he could feel the vibrations coming from her lungs.
"You're not drunk, Shorty. You're wasted," and he could tell by the smell of fruit and alcohol coming from her and the odd lack of reaction to her pet names. "How many did you have?"
"Mmm, maybe six? -Rn't ya proud I can handle it?" Levy quipped as she shifted her weight, and he yanked the hem of her dress down from riding up any further. Of all the clothes she picks to fight in…!
"This ain't handling it," he retorted, earning him another whack to his shoulder blade.
"Sure it is!"
Lily grunted at her statement, "She's so loud."
"What, am I so unbearable?" was her immediate snappy, almost sobering remark, "Well! Bare your weapon and—" she snickered, "and-"
And both Gajeel and Lily groaned at the pun while gaining a healthy appreciation for the short distance between the guild and the dorms.
Since the fearsome Titania defended the girls' dorm in the same way that a starving dog would guard it's last bone, Gajeel opted for a more covert approach to Levy's room. She made it hella hard, though, as he had no idea where he was going and she wasn't exactly being quiet either. Lily took watch from the rear while he scoped the halls in the front. He shifted carrying her in his arms to bridal style in hopes that she wouldn't flippin' yell out the directions if she saw his face.
"Left or right?" he asked in hopes that she'd at least remember where she was going.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and he stiffened instantly—not used to something that wasn't trying to strangle him—and barely whispered in his ear, her hot breath teasing his neck as she said, "Go left." Frozen in place, he couldn't help but stare at Levy's smiling, parted lips and hazy eyes, gazing back.
Holy shit howlongwasthisgoingtolast?
"All clear," he heard Lily confirm, and by some miraculous feat he forced his body to turn and walk through the hall. He could not think about the blue-haired pixie in his arms. She was drunk dammit! A lively, too kind for her own good, soft fairy with her head against his crazily beating chest and her delicate fingers clutching the fabric of his shirt and thank the gods above there was her room.
He twisted the doorknob and was more than ready to dump her onto her pretty little bed and bolt the hell outta here until he was greeted with a wall of books. A whole aisle of books, just, right there in his face.
"You're kidding me! You sleep in the fuckin' library?!"
Lily shared his sentiment as he darted down the makeshift aisle, peaking around the corner while Gajeel stepped over the piles of books on the floor. It was a mini-labyrinth, not a dorm room!
"It's my room!" Levy announced, slipping out of his arms and onto the floor. She took a few steps forward before ultimately stumbling and plopping unceremoniously onto a small stack of books. She reached towards Lily in an attempt to recollect her things, still grinning.
"I'll work som'more,"
"Like hell you will!" he snorted, and exchanged knowing glances with his partner. Lily nodded and turned the corner, taking the materials with him.
Levy frowned and attempted to stand, hands still outreached, "hey!"
"Don't you think you've had enough for today?" he blocked her way just in case, and she glared with those hazy eyes of hers. Gods does she even know what she does to him?
"No."
Instead, she latched onto the nearby bookcase's ladder and hoisted herself up, climbing a few unsure steps before he realized that she was trying to climb over the bookshelf to get to his partner.
He grappled her tiny waist and pulled with only an ounce of his strength, expecting her to let go. In a surprising feat of stubbornness, her grip remained. The little fairy even dared to pull her body up another rung before tightening his grip.
"What the hell is so important about that book?!" Gajeel grumbled, jerking her back before she hurt herself dammit, and refused to put her squirming body down.
"I need it!"
"For what?! You got plenty to read!"
"It'll make me stronger," she slurred while trying to pry his arms open, "so I can face you."
"I ain't gonna fight you, Shrimp!" was his automatic response, and images of her battered body shackled against the tree flashed in his head. Suddenly touching her felt like touching fire and he wanted to let go —
She twisted in his arms so that she faced him directly; her hands gripped his shoulders and body pressed against his before he could even comprehend what she was doing.
"I'll show you what I've learned," she said stubbornly, seriously, and in a way that made Gajeel very uncomfortable, "Solid Script: Tether!"
The magic words bound around the two of them as he faltered, tripped over another pile of books, and landed on the floor. His head thumped against the wooden planks and he glared at the drunken woman on top of him with the barest thread of patience still in tact.
"Solid Script: Shackle."
The letter "S" formed around his neck and spiraled in a chain to end in her own collar, "e". Was she serious?!
"Let me go." He grunted, very still, refusing to give into her demands.
"No."
Her expression didn't change, and he tensed his body in an attempt not to rip her room apart with iron beams crashing through everything. He was done playing!
"That's enough!" A low growl reverberated through his chest. He didn't want to hurt her again; he couldn't afford to lose her smile, and finally he might have made his point—
Until she weaved her fingers into his hair and kissed him.
He tasted apples and alcohol on her lips, and warmth. And he wanted more: her glances and laughter and touch, and he pressed harder against her, both terrified and captivated. And guilty. She had no idea what she was doing right now, and he couldn't—she didn't understand—
She pulled away.
"Don't run away from me." The ferocity in her voice and her half-lidded eyes burned into his memory.
"I'm not running," But it felt like a lie.
And again she smiled, leaning closer, "I'm right here."
"I know."
"Don't run."
It felt like iron was caught in his throat, "Levy."
She rested her head against his chest, the magic words fell away, and he was left with nothing but his thoughts.
…And Lily, who had deemed it safe to come out. Shit.
The two of them paused, glanced at the sleeping girl in his arms, and back to each other.
Lilly cleared his throat, "To quote Happy, 'You two li'—"
"You didn't see or hear anything," he snarled towards the Exceed.
Once the pair had placed the mage safely into her futon (seriously, a futon pad over a bed of books? Wasn't it some kind of law for women to have sickeningly girly beds?), they high-tailed it out of there before Erza could even respond to the racket they made in the Shrimp's room.
The next morning…
Levy had woken up with a headache the size of Magnolia and an awful taste in her mouth. Upon taking a much-needed shower and a fresh change of clothes, she found her translation project lying, a little worn for wear, on her desk. She flipped through the notebook to remember where she stopped (somewhere around trapping spells?) and found that her handwriting degraded with each sentence. Sloppy and looping, her work last night ended in some sort of half-thought and Gajeel's name scrawled and underlined.
She wasn't that bad when she drank on a normal night. What happened?
Her quick trip to the guild was uneventful, though she was thankful that the sky was overcast. It was hard enough to keep the pounding in her head down, and the sun would have made her run back to the dorms.
Only, the dangerous glint in Mirajane's eyes made her think second thoughts about retreating to her room.
"Are you feeling better?" Mira asked, still smiling, and Levy felt a chill run down her spine before sitting on one of the barstools.
"Yes," She decided was the best reply, and noticed the rough, charred counter that the bartender was currently wiping down. "What happened here?"
"You did." Mira chimed a little too sweetly. Levy looked at her, terrified. "Thank goodness Gray was here to put it out, otherwise you might have burnt the guild down!"
"It's my fault, mostly," Lisanna stepped in, bowing her head in embarrassment, "While sis was taking a break, I served you what I thought was the new ale. It turns out that what I gave you was part of a special import for Cana. I'm sorry!"
Weary of what else she may have destroyed last night, Levy apologized profusely before asking the dreaded question, "What else happened? I remember talking to Cana last night, and that was about it."
"You had your fortune read, and then you told a few stories. Then you started making jokes," Lisanna paused and grimaced, "really bad word puns. I knew you had too much by then, but we were too busy for one of us to take you home."
"But Gajeel and Lily came in, so I asked them to take you back." Mira interjected, "You set the bar on fire, and then you left."
Levy covered her profusely blushing cheeks in embarrassment. What was worse: Gajeel seeing her drunk, or Gajeel watching her perform arson?
And then fate decided to be particularly cheeky today as the dragon slayer in question entered the guild. He sauntered over to the counter, giving Mirajane and Lisanna a curt nod of acknowledgement.
"The usual."
And then he looked at her…
And turned away.
She didn't even get a greeting?! What did she do?!
"A—ah, th-thank you for last…night…" Levy struggled to say while resisting the urge to bury her face in her hands. He said nothing for a few seconds, and she had a sinking feeling that something royally screwed up happened—
"Hey," Gajeel finally said, still avoiding her gaze, "You better now?"
Oh thank the heavens above; at least he was talking, "Yeah. I can't remember much, so…"
He finally looked over to her, paused, and then smirked, "You were a pain in the ass, half-pint! Cracking lame jokes and crawlin' over bookshelves. Why the hell did you think you could drink that much?"
"I didn't mean to! And don't call me half-pint!" Irked at the degrading nickname (she didn't ask to be short!), Levy crossed her arms and turned away.
"You're still gonna work on this thing today?"
When she turned back, the dragon slayer had taken the spell book and was flipping through the pages. She blushed and swiped it from his hands.
"Yes," Levy had a hard time looking into those piercing eyes, "because it'll make me—"
"I know." He interrupted her, and she felt his hand cup the side of her head, "Just…just take it easy, all right?"
She wasn't thinking straight, not with his fingers laced in her hair and his intense stare. And because of that, she asked a stupid question.
"Why?"
Gajeel muttered something about melting iron when the doors creaked open and Jet and Droy appeared, looking defeated but no worse for wear.
"We're back, Levy!" Droy announced as the pair made a beeline toward her. Gajeel made a sour face before letting her go. Instead, he decided to pay attention to the bowl of iron bits that Mira provided.
"We couldn't find those Junos peaches you wanted." Jet explained, "We even took the train to a couple different towns until we called it quits. Sorry."
Oh right, the peaches. She was about to apologize when Droy handed her a plastic bag. She caught a glimpse of Gajeel just barely peeking over as she looked inside—
"But there were apples on sale, so we thought you'd like 'em!"
—and promptly threw up.